Improvement in machines for nailing heels to boots and shoes



No. 41,038. PATENTE!) DEG.y 22, A1863. G. W. ELLIS. MACHINE PQR NAILI'NGHEELS T0 BOTS OR SHOES.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2,.

Wtnesesf inver-liar: JM W C. C

No. 41,038. l EATENTED DEG. 22, 1863. 1 G. iw. ELL'IS.

A MACHINE EOE NAILING VEEELS To BOOTS 0E SHOES.

3 SHEETS-SHBBT 3.

`% aff@ UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE IV. ELLIS, OF LYNN, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR T() I-IIMSKELF AND.LUTHER HILL. i

i IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES FOR NAILING HEELS vI0 BOOTS AND SHOES.

To aM ywhom, it may concern,.--

Be it known that I, Gnonen W. ELLIS, of

Lynn, in the'county of Essex and State of knife and the partsimmediately connected therewith; Fig. 6, a view of aheel-blank, asprepared for nailing on.

The heets, before. they are applied to the boots by my machine, arebuilt up of lifts cut into a form 'approximating that which they are tohave in the heel by dies, and temporarily secured together in a machinewhich 'I have invented for the purpose, and for which I have applied forLetters Patent simultaneously with this. In the same machine the holesfor the tacks are madeand two or more nails are partly driven into and'through the heel. These nails are left projecting from the top lift, andserve not only to hold the lifts together temporarily, but also asguides by which the heels are properly placed in my present machine,where they are secured to the soles of the boots or shoes. I

To enable others skilled in the art to build and use my machine, I willproceed to describe its construction and operation.

The heel-blank which is to be applied to4 theshoe is represented in Fig.6. The holes b for the nails having been punched 'and the guide-nails ,ainserted upon the machine before referred to, the nailing-block A isperforated with a series of holes, c, exactly conforming in positionwi'th the awl-holes b in the heelblank, and in each of these holescworks a driver, d, the lower end of which rests upon the stationarydriver-bed B upon the top of a hollow post, C, rising from the bench E.The nailing-block A is secured to a round rod or bar, I),which passesdown through the post C, and between the bed and the block there is aspring, g, which raises the block A tothe Speeiication forming' part ofLetters Patent No. 4 l,038, dnfed December 22, 1863.

`proper height, where it is arrested by the pin fin its lower'end comingin contact with the underneath surfaceot' the bench E.y A pinguide, F,rising` from the bed B, enters a corresponding hole in the block A andprevents the latter from turning. Then pressure is applied to thenailing-block, it is forced down uponthe bed, Fig. 2, the spring g.yielding and the drivers rising through the holes in the block A so asjust to reach the upper surface of the block.

The knife lever G, which is seen inplan iu Fig. 1, in section in Fig. 2,and in perspective in Fig. 4, has a long slot, H. in its center, of a,width that will `just accommodate the post C within it, so that thelever may turn freely round this post and at the same time have aconsiderable range of motion in the direction of its length.

The motions ot' the knife lever are governed as fol1ows:'.l`he knife l1(seen in Fig. 2 in the act of shaving the heel) is formed so as to givethe proper curve to the heel, and is secured to the knife-head lr, andhas a prolongation, or tailpiece, m, which rests against thenailingblock A. The head 7.'y has two bearin gs or pivots, n, whichslide in slots l in the knife-block I, and is forced uptoward the heel,Figs. 1, 2, and 5, by the spring p', The knife is thus allowed tovibrate on its pivots n and to move longitudinally in the slots l.

Above the knife is a fender, s', which rests against the upper leather wand protects it from being cut by the operation of shaving the heel.

The knife-block I slides upon dovetailed ways q on the knifecarriage K,and is secured in position thereon by screws 'i'. Down from thiscarriage projects a post, L, which fits closely, but-turns freely, inthe hole M, Fig. 4. The post terminates in an elongated or double pin s,which tits snugly, but slides freely, in a curved groove, 0, upon theupper surface of the bench E. The curve of the groove O corresponds,generally, with that of the nailingblock A, but will allo-w this blockto be Varied sufflciently for all the different sizes of heels that maybe required.

The knife h is adjusted by means ofthe screws r, so that. its edge 2shall be in a vertical plane, passing through the center of the `post Land pin s.

Thepost la ispasseddown through theholeM, and the knil'elever G isturned so that the elmgated pin s will enter the slot() at thepointV,Fig.l,aml as the leveris carried around the pin moves in thedirection of its arrow, and as it moves it turns the .carriage K andknife-block, so as to canse the/knife blade vconstantly to make atangent to the bed B and llock A. The knite l1J is adjusted b v meansofthe screws r, so that its edge 2 shall bein a vertical planel'iassingthrough the center ofthe post L, and thns the edge of the knife isalways kept in the proper cutting position.

In operating the machine, the boot. or shoe, after having been soled,and'while it is--yet upon the last, has its heel secured to it by -nailsand shaved, as will be .presently eX- plained. In the machinerepresented in the accompanying drawings only the rear portion oftheshoe is shown, Fignfl, and the follower It takes the place of the last.In the great majority of cases, however, the shoe will be heeled beforethe last is withdrawn.

InFig. 2, T is the sole, which may be. se-

cured to the-insole l and upper leather 110 by pegs, or in any ordinaryway. The followerR is attached to the lower end of a rod or bar, U,which slides up and down in bearings V, attached to an arm, X,projecting from the standard Z, rising from the bench E. The bar IIisoperated by the eccentric N upon Athe enfl of the shaft P, which runsthrough the center ofthe arm X. y v

Operation: When not in operation the. nailing-block'is elevated a4 shortdistance above the. bed B, as seen in Fig. 8, and the drivers d are thensutliciently far below the mouths ofthe holes c to permit a nail to bedropped into each of the holes, except those which come opposite to theguidenails a', Fig. 6.

The nails being thus dropped into the holes with their points uppermost,the heel-blankis 4placed upon the nailing-block, the guide-nails c beingplaced in their proper holes a2, into which, as before stated, no nailswere placed. lhese guide-nails thus serve the purpose of instantlyplacing the heel-blank in the proper position, so that each hole in theblock shall correspond with a hole in the heel. The shoe is. now placedupon the heel, Fig. 2, a proper guide or` gage, projecting' from somestationary part ofthe machine, arresting the shoe in the rightpositionwith respect4 to the nailingblock A. This gage is not shownuponthe drawings, as such instruments are common in a great variety ofmachines and net d no further description. The shaft I sturned, and thefollower R, (or the last if the latterv has not been withdraw n from theshoes,) together with the shoe,V heel, andthe nailing-block A, is forceddown until the latter bears upon the stationary bed While this is takingplace the drivers have forced the nails up into thc holes in theheel-blink, or a portion of them,

through the sole and insole and against the bottomlof the follower R',(orofthe 12st,) which is iron plated, to' rivet them and secure the heelfirmly, the-guide-nails a., Fig. 6, being at the Sametime drive-n. Oneof the nails is seen at y, Fig. 2, riveted'against the follower. Thedescent of the follower (or of the last) is graduated with reference. tothe thickness of the heel, so that the latter may be submit- A ted to agreat pressure, not only that it may be thus nailed and retained in asolid and com pressed state, but also that it may be shaved whileunderpressure, which operation is performed as follows:

Starting with the knife-levcrin thel position represented in red in Fig.1, and moving this lever in the direction of its arrow, the knifecommences to ont upon the corner e ofthe heel, and is carried rounduntil it has shaved the entire heel,the tail m ot' the ,knife restingagainst t'ie nailing-block A, and the fender z against the upper leatherof the shoe, as already dcscribed, and thus the block A andthe upperleather serve as guides for the knife, while the fender prevents theknigt'e-edgc from coming in contact with the upper leather.

For certain work I propose to secure the sole and heel temporarilytogether inthe machine before mentioned; which makes the holes for thenails, the guide-nails being of sufficient length to penetrate pa'rtlyinto the sole. The

sole and heel are then shaved and securedtogether in my present machine,and before bef ing secured to the shoe.

The heel andthe portion of the sole to which it is attached are thensecured to the shoeby six or more nails driven into holes left vacantfor the purpose, and clinched upon an ironplated last. In suchcase thenailing-block and the follower R will serve as guide for theknife, v'the fender resting against the edge ofthe follower. lhis method ofshaving the heel and sole before they are secured to the shoe gives amuch better opportunity of finishing,r the rand than where the heelissha-ved afterit I is secured to the shoe. Any other method ormachinery other 'than that described above may be employed for thepurposeof depressing the follower R or the last.` at the proper time.

These details, however, form no part of my present invention, and neednot be further particularized. It is necessary, however, that themachine be of sutlicient strength and the .power sufficiently great tocompressA the heel with great force before it is shaved.

In a machine for operatin g with heels of different heights a differentknife will be required for each height of heel in order that the fendermay. bear upon the extreme bottom of the. up-

per leather, which is technically called the topdge, as.seen in Fig. 2.Or the same knife may be used for heels of different heights; but insuch case the fender must be made adjustable upon the knife and hesecured by screws thereto.

In order that the inside of the boots may be concave to correspond withthe convexity of the foot at the-heel-it is customary in building upheels to employ what is called a split lift.7

By the use of my machine this concave form is 'by the compression of theleather. It would, however, be manifestly of no avail thus to shape.enabled to operateupe'n heels ofdift'erent sizes with the singlestationary'groove O'by simply l by which the top of the heel is madeconcave.

given to the heel without the necessity of resorting to the split lift,as follows: The fol-- lower, R, or the last, is made convex tocorrespend to theshape of the foot, and the heel is subjected tosufficient pressure in the. machine to produce the requisite concavityof the sole the heel if it were again to be released from pressurebefore being permanently secured in shape.- This is. accomplished 'bydriving the nails While the heel is under pressure.' "It is thus heldbythe nails in the shape in -which it is compressed by the. machine. Itis evident, however, that heels built up with a split lift may equallyWell be nailed and shaved upon this machine. By shaving the heel whileun der pressure a :much cleaner and better out can be made.

I-t will be perceived that by the employment of the springp behind theshaving-knife I am changing the nailing-block A. By this means themachine is greatly simplified.

What I claim", and desire'lo secure by Letters Patent, isi- 1.In.combination -With the follower it,

placed inside of the shoe, the nailingblocks i A B, so arranged withregard thereto and to the shoe as that the nails shall be driven fromGEO. ELLIS.

Witnesses:

WILLIAM H. PIERCE, FRANKLIN KNIGHT.

